Craig Westberg Case

Craig Westberg is the DA for Archuleta, La Plata and San Juan counties.

Westberg was arrested Oct. 10 on suspicion of careless driving and driving under the influence of a drug. He said he took a single Ambien sleeping pill because he was feeling ill and had not slept in two days. He then drove to the store for Vitamin C and began feeling the effects of the drug.

Two witnesses reported a driver in a black Honda Civic failing to stay in a single lane, with one saying the driver struck a gas pipeline vent without stopping.

Westberg was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months probation, 60 hours of public service, 10 days of electronic home monitoring and costs and fees of $4,015.47. He also loses his driver’s license for a year and must attend alcohol education classes.

“It’s a real slap in the face if we all want to believe that everyone is equal under the law, but what this shows is that’s not the case,” Champagne said. “It’s a travesty of justice.”

Durango public defenders Christian Champagne and Tom Williamson criticized the sentence and said any regular person would have gotten 30 to 90 days of jail and no deferred judgment on the DUI charge. They stressed that they were expressing their own opinions and not those of the public defender’s office.